Amelia Ray(I)
- Composer
- Music Department
- Producer
Amelia Ray a writer, composer, filmmaker, performer and proud amalgam of every person she has ever met, knows there is always more than one way to tell a story. As a polyglot, she has spent decades examining how similar concepts are expressed differently across languages and cultures. Interpretation is a running theme in her work, which includes several cross-genre albums and singles, performance art projects and a one-act musical about appropriation entitled "Can't Jemima".
Ray grew up on AM radio, MTV and her mother's varied 8-track and record collection. "Alongside Rufus and Millie Jackson were Dorothy Love Coates, George Jones, Traffic, Cannonball Adderly, Nancy and Justin Wilson. Aside from the fact that no secular music was allowed in the house on Sundays, I didn't really have any concept of genre," Ray explains. "The Oak Ridge Boys and Streisand were just as familiar to me as were L.T.D. and Run D.M.C."
"My mother listened to everything so I listened to everything."
Ray wrote her first song (a Debbie Gibson-influenced pop smash titled, "Yeah, I Saw Him Again") at age 10, and had self-produced three albums on cassette before ushering in the digital era with Mr. Gibson Scores Again. She penned all of the songs and performed all vocals and instruments on the 2001 release. The album revealed a melodic proficiency in tunes like the rock gospel opener "Whoyerdaddy?" and the bubblegum pop delight "Iberian Girl," prompting jazz musician Rob Bargad to declare, "Amelia Ray is The Beatles' long lost soul sister."
Ray's influences range from Jacques Brel to Black Sabbath, and echoes of Jonatha Brooke, Jellyfish, Kenny Loggins and The Clark Sisters can be heard throughout her 30-year discography. Her ability to create sonic connections between seemingly unrelated artists and genres became evident with MashUpheaval - a podcast that saw Ray creating mashups of songs by artists as varied as Lady Gaga with System of a Down and Nelly with Blind Faith.
In 2002, Ray moved to France, and took up life as a European resident. The albums Music for Autistic People and ON soon followed, along with a string of festival appearances in Austria, Spain and Slovakia. In the 2010s, Ray began writing lyrics in other languages ("Ana no potable") and experimenting with film (Road Song) and electronic music (Why No Dream). Following a brief stint working as a soloist aboard cruise ships, she developed an interest in performance art. In 2020, Ray joined longtime collaborator Jake Wood to produce "Hambone Says," a performance piece that uses contemporary past aesthetic to explore race relations, rage and role reversal in the U.S.
Also in 2020, Ray organised and hosted The Quarantuned Music Festival - a series of 24-hour, worldwide, virtual music festivals to benefit artists affected by Covid-19 concert cancellations. The festival included performances by Dianne Schuur and Chuck Prophet. Later that year, Ray created and hosted the virtual variety show "Up, Up & A Ray," which featured the comedic genius of Lauren Flans. Peter Himmelman and Svavar Knútur were among the 25 musical guests featured on the show.
In early 2023, Ray released "Delegate," the overwhelmed independent artist's jazzy lamentation, and "Beste meneer Decleir," a folk ode in Dutch to Belgian actor Jan Decleir.
Ray grew up on AM radio, MTV and her mother's varied 8-track and record collection. "Alongside Rufus and Millie Jackson were Dorothy Love Coates, George Jones, Traffic, Cannonball Adderly, Nancy and Justin Wilson. Aside from the fact that no secular music was allowed in the house on Sundays, I didn't really have any concept of genre," Ray explains. "The Oak Ridge Boys and Streisand were just as familiar to me as were L.T.D. and Run D.M.C."
"My mother listened to everything so I listened to everything."
Ray wrote her first song (a Debbie Gibson-influenced pop smash titled, "Yeah, I Saw Him Again") at age 10, and had self-produced three albums on cassette before ushering in the digital era with Mr. Gibson Scores Again. She penned all of the songs and performed all vocals and instruments on the 2001 release. The album revealed a melodic proficiency in tunes like the rock gospel opener "Whoyerdaddy?" and the bubblegum pop delight "Iberian Girl," prompting jazz musician Rob Bargad to declare, "Amelia Ray is The Beatles' long lost soul sister."
Ray's influences range from Jacques Brel to Black Sabbath, and echoes of Jonatha Brooke, Jellyfish, Kenny Loggins and The Clark Sisters can be heard throughout her 30-year discography. Her ability to create sonic connections between seemingly unrelated artists and genres became evident with MashUpheaval - a podcast that saw Ray creating mashups of songs by artists as varied as Lady Gaga with System of a Down and Nelly with Blind Faith.
In 2002, Ray moved to France, and took up life as a European resident. The albums Music for Autistic People and ON soon followed, along with a string of festival appearances in Austria, Spain and Slovakia. In the 2010s, Ray began writing lyrics in other languages ("Ana no potable") and experimenting with film (Road Song) and electronic music (Why No Dream). Following a brief stint working as a soloist aboard cruise ships, she developed an interest in performance art. In 2020, Ray joined longtime collaborator Jake Wood to produce "Hambone Says," a performance piece that uses contemporary past aesthetic to explore race relations, rage and role reversal in the U.S.
Also in 2020, Ray organised and hosted The Quarantuned Music Festival - a series of 24-hour, worldwide, virtual music festivals to benefit artists affected by Covid-19 concert cancellations. The festival included performances by Dianne Schuur and Chuck Prophet. Later that year, Ray created and hosted the virtual variety show "Up, Up & A Ray," which featured the comedic genius of Lauren Flans. Peter Himmelman and Svavar Knútur were among the 25 musical guests featured on the show.
In early 2023, Ray released "Delegate," the overwhelmed independent artist's jazzy lamentation, and "Beste meneer Decleir," a folk ode in Dutch to Belgian actor Jan Decleir.